Slovenia banned Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday, accusing the senior cabinet members of “inciting violence” against Palestinians.
Ben-Gvir and Smotrich “through their genocidal statements, incite extreme violence and serious violations of Palestinians’ human rights,” the Central European nation claimed following a government meeting.
“They publicly advocate the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the forced displacement of Palestinians, and call for violence against the Palestinian civilian population,” Ljubljana said.
(Slovenia, like many other countries around the world, describes the historically Jewish territories of Judea and Samaria as the “West Bank.”)
“Through their actions and positions,” the statement said, the two ministers “promote ethnic cleansing of the West Bank and Gaza.”
Smotrich and Ben-Gvir did not immediately respond to Ljubljana’s announcement on Thursday evening in the Jewish state.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon noted that “this is the first measure of this nature” taken by a member state of the European Union.
Foreign ministers in the European Union shelved measures against Israel on Tuesday after understandings were reached between Brussels and Jerusalem to significantly improve and increase humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Along with eight other European nations, Slovenia requested in June that Brussels take action against goods and services originating from Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria, after Ljubljana recognized a Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip last year.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said that while sanctions against Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria are ready, the measures have been blocked by one of its member states—reportedly Hungary.
Last month, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom imposed financial sanctions on Smotrich and Ben-Gvir for allegedly “inciting violence” against Arab residents of Judea and Samaria.
“Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights,” the top diplomats of the five nations said in a joint statement made public by the U.K. Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
Ben-Gvir has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt negotiations with Hamas and “destroy, kill and annihilate” terrorists. Smotrich has expressed support for “destroying the enemy in Gaza.”
